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Four Shawnee County students selected to C-J All-State Academic Team

Teens give back to community while proving leadership, academic skills

Rossville's Robert "Davis" Warton practices his chip shot at St. Mary's Golf Course. Warton is the captain of his Scholar's Bowl team, plays golf and football, and is involved in a school group called "Take a Second Make a Difference" (TASMAD).

Hayden's Bridgette Befort, right, teaches Ross Elementary's Tanessa Henry a song on the Piano in the Ross Elementary band room. Befort teaches low income children how to play piano twice a week at Ross Elementary.

Mallory Copeland of Shawnee Heights demonstrates how she prepares for a forensics tournament where she is asked a question and then given 30 minutes to find news articles on the topic and give a seven minute speech. Copeland is involved in debate and forensics and was the team leader for the school's Model UN delegation this year, which took home top honors

Alisha White is an All-State Academic winner from Highland Park High School.

Four Shawnee County teens with impressive academic skills, character and a desire to serve the community are members of the 2014 Topeka Capital-Journal All-State Academic Team.

These students have cultivated their leadership skills in organizations both inside and outside their schools. Each also has shown a dedication to community service and good character, which has set them apart from their peers and impressed adults with whom they come in contact.

Their scholastic achievements, paired with their passion for serving others, show a bright future for their impact on the world.

BRIDGETTE BEFORT

HAYDEN CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL

Hayden Catholic High School honored Bridgette Befort in her sophomore year with the Mother Teresa Award, a testament to her dedication to serving the Topeka community.

As a senior, her community service activities continue to impress others.

“When you’re able to give back and help someone else smile, it makes you realize you really can make a difference in the world, and it makes you want to make an even bigger difference,” she said recently.

Befort has volunteered in various departments at Stormont-Vail HealthCare since she was in the seventh grade, including the digestive health center, the breast-feeding clinic, the surgery and operation waiting room, the information desk and the volunteer department. She said the experience is rewarding.

“I get to meet kids from around the community who also volunteer, and also older people who volunteer,” she said. “I get to help out other people in the Topeka community during their time of need.”

During Befort’s sophomore year, an assistant principal suggested she join the Topeka Mayor’s Youth Council. That gave her additional opportunities to serve. She has helped with “spa days” for Atria Hearthstone residents, playing the piano for them and painting their nails. She also helped with a clothing drive for teenagers and children affected by the tornado in Moore, Okla., this past summer.

Befort also serves with Youth Court, typically as a defense attorney — something she says she greatly enjoys. The court is available for teens to use if they have incurred minor traffic infractions and misdemeanors.

Shawnee County District Court Judge Rebecca Crotty, who knows Befort’s family and is the judge assigned to work with Youth Court, wrote in a recommendation that Befort was the most capable and diligent student with whom she has worked.

“She is always prepared and mature above her age and even when she takes a forceful approach to one side of a case, she is polite and courteous to the opposing side,” Crotty wrote.

This year, Befort, who has played piano for 12 years, added a new volunteering experience to her schedule. She and her sister began teaching low-income kids to play piano twice a week at Ross Elementary as part of the Latch-Keyboard Project. They teach 16 different children, Befort said.

“These kids who otherwise would not have a chance to learn piano and have a source of music in their lives have a chance to learn music,” Befort said of the program.

Befort, the daughter of Jay and Merill Befort, also has been involved in debate, Scholars Bowl, Student Council and Math Squad at Hayden. She will study engineering at The University of Kansas.

ALISHA WHITE

HIGHLAND PARK HIGH SCHOOL

Highland Park High School principal Beryl New says senior Alisha White demonstrates a passion to excel in education and be a leader.

White, the daughter of Phil and Teresa White, serves as senior class president and is a member of the MVP Sports Magazine junior advisory board, among other activities.

“She is personable, dependable, a self-starter, and displays a level of wisdom uncommon for most young women her age,” New wrote in her recommendation.

White said recently one of her favorite awards was being named Miss Fashionetta by Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at its annual debutante ball for junior and senior girls. The girls have a formal dance with their fathers, and a younger group of girls they mentor also attend.

“I get little girls all the time that come up and say ‘I want to be just like you, you’re so pretty,’ and that means a lot to me,” White said.

She also received Living the Dream Inc.’s Outstanding Youth Award earlier this year.

She was nominated and accepted into this year’s Leadership Greater Topeka class as one of three students to participate. Although she was skeptical about participating in the program during the second semester of her busy senior year, she said she has thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learning about new things happening in the community, such as downtown revitalization and riverfront development projects.

“I had so much fun,” she said. “I met new people.”

White knew she wanted to attend a historically black college or university, but the college her sister attends doesn’t have an engineering program. Then White researched Tuskegee University.

“I found out they were one of the world’s largest producers of black engineers,” she said.

A relative who graduated from Tuskegee about 25 years ago told her the university had a one-week summer camp to introduce students to different engineering fields through lab demonstrations, lectures and hands-on projects. She attended the camp, and she loved the university.

“That’s how I knew what I wanted to do,” White said.

White also has competed in basketball and tennis, is active in Asbury Mount Olive United Methodist Church and volunteers at the Hillcrest Community Center and as a Girl Scout leader.

She will study chemical engineering and begin Tuskegee’s FASTREC program this summer.

ROBERT ‘DAVIS’ WARTON

ROSSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL

Rossville High School counselor Beth Shepard says Davis Warton is a “true leader” who has been an asset to the school during his four years there.

This year, he has served as Student Council president, vice president of National Honor Society and captain of the school’s Scholars Bowl team.

“Davis is an amazing young man with high moral character and honesty, integrity and sincerity that go unchallenged,” Shepard wrote in a recommendation.

Warton said recently he enjoyed planning homecoming and special Christmas activities as Student Council president because they are important to his classmates.

“I really enjoy getting to be part of the planning process for that,” he said.

Shelly Wichman, who has taught Warton in multiple science classes, wrote that he leads by example and works hard in everything he does.

Shephard agreed, writing that he is a positive role model for younger students.

“Davis is always open-minded, respectful and accepting of others’ differences and will quickly step up to volunteer help when needed,” she said. “He is someone we can rely on, and often do, to help improve the climate of the school.”

In Warton’s junior year, he took forensics because he needed an art credit to finish high school. As it turned out, he was good at it. He earned a spot that year on Rossville’s state forensics team, and he continued forensics as a senior.

“It was outside the box for me,” Warton said. “Sports are kind of my thing, and that was almost the complete opposite of football. The difference made it fun.”

Warton played football for four seasons and was selected as all-league first team and team captain his senior year. He was named an ACT Scholar and a Kansas State Scholar.

Warton, the son of Bob and Gwen Warton and Randy and Jennifer Bush, will study pre-medicine at William Jewell College. He plans to become an anesthesiologist.

“It seems like a challenge,” he said of the choice. “I enjoy a challenge, and I really enjoy studying science.”

MALLORY COPELAND

SHAWNEE HEIGHTS HIGH SCHOOL

Shawnee Heights High School senior Mallory Copeland says she has always been interested in international relations.

Both her studies and her extracurricular activities attest to that interest. She has been involved in Model United Nations, taught herself Mandarin Chinese and plans to study abroad for at least one semester in college.

Robyn Aeschliman, Model UN sponsor for Shawnee Heights, wrote of Copeland that she “has a keen intellect, superior work ethic and incontrovertible honor.”

Copeland, the daughter of Tom and Natalie Copeland, has been Model UN team leader for her school’s league delegation for the past two years. This year, the Shawnee Heights High School Model UN delegation took home first-place high school team honors for the fifth year in a row.

She also has been involved in forensics for four years, an activity she says goes hand-in-hand with Model UN. She said debate boosts self-confidence and public speaking ability.

For the past three years, Copeland has taken an independent study course, which she uses to teach herself Chinese with Rosetta Stone.

“I’ve always thought the Chinese culture was really interesting,” she said. “I thought it would be not only challenging but help me if I wanted to study abroad. It’s definitely been a challenging language to learn.”

Copeland, who will study environmental science with an emphasis in public policy at Clark University, said she hopes to study abroad in China for at least one semester.

In addition to these activities, Copeland also has served on Student Council and volunteered. She wrote in her submission that she was drawn to the plight of Ugandan children after hearing at school about the Invisible Children campaign. In response, she established a book drive at her church and reached out to her youth group to share with them about the need in Uganda.

The book drive collected 600 books — tripling Copeland’s goal — for donation to Better World Books, which sold them and gave the revenue to the Invisible Children campaign.

Copeland said her favorite volunteer activity is serving Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with her family at the Topeka Rescue Mission.

“It’s always nice to see the people’s faces when they get to choose from this delicious-looking array of pies and things,” she said.